Engaging and unpredictable.
A teen is coerced into going on a whitewater rafting trip that ends in tragedy in middle-grade author Bowling’s YA debut.
Christian has always had trouble saying “no” to his childhood friend James. They’ve been apart for a few years; the summer after Christian finished eighth grade, his dad died, and he and his financially struggling mom moved in with family in Minnesota. This summer, 17-year-old Christian is working at Taco Bell, but out of the blue, wealthy James insists on buying him a plane ticket to come rafting on Arizona’s Salt River the very next day. Accompanying them are James’ girlfriend, Freya, and two of his private school friends. Freya seems fearful of her thrill-seeking, heavy-drinking boyfriend, much to Christian’s dismay. The narrative is structured in two parts—“August 1998” and “August 1999”—and bookended by a prologue and epilogue that nicely set up and tie up the story. The cleverly twisting and turning Hitchcockian mystery unfolds against a backdrop of the Y2K bug and ’90s music references that help flesh out the timeframe that spans Christian’s senior year of high school and first year of college, where he falls for a girl named Nikki Flores and takes an interest in forensic science. Readers will suspect from the start that all is not as it seems, but they’ll be hard-pressed to work out all the details before their eventual reveal. Most main characters present white.
Engaging and unpredictable. (content warning, playlist) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781454957089
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements.
A wary teen wonders if she should run when people come looking for her.
Lucy Smith was raised by her white father, who said little about her mother. Following his death and her stepmother’s abandonment, Lucy entered the foster care system at 14. Her stepmother revealed that Lucy’s birth mom was Native American, but her social worker urged her to keep that quiet. Battered by her time in the foster care system, it’s no wonder that 18-year-old Lucy is cautious when she’s approached by a man who says he’s an attorney who helps Native American foster kids connect with their families and communities. He introduces her to a friend who reveals to Lucy that she knows her Ojibwe maternal relatives—but a wary Lucy refuses her offer to learn more. Someone is stalking her, after all, and the FBI is investigating the bomb that went off in the diner where she worked—an event she’s sure targeted her. This stand-alone from bestseller Boulley, who’s an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, includes characters her fans will recognize from previous works. The action scenes are mediated by ruminations on the failings of the foster care system and strong portrayals of Lucy’s relationship with her father and her complicated identity. Ardent book lover Lucy is a sympathetic narrator whose strong sense of justice is coupled with a deep acceptance of others.
A powerful story of family, belonging, and identity interlaced with thriller elements. (content warning, author’s note) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781250328533
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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